Alterproof check or paper



May 27, 1941. w. E. NIECE 2,243,284

ALTERPROOF CHECK 0R PAPER Filed March 7, 1940 l inoinna ti, 0.

0 THE ORDER OF l I INVENTOR.

" Mum" EJWew/e/ Patented May 27, 1941 ALTERPROOF CHECK OR PAPER William E. Niece, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor of seventy per cent to William J. Dammarell, Cincinnati, Ohio Application March 7, 1940, Serial No. 322,800

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a non-alterable bank check or other paper adapted to be filled in by the user with data that must be guarded against alteration. The invention is illustrated herein in connection with a bank check but its application to other valuable papers is obvious.

An object of the invention is to provide a check or paper formed with blank areas adapted to be filled in by the user, said areas being provided, prior to use of the paper, with numerous adjacently disposed breaks or interruptions rendering said areas highly absorbent so that the inserted matter is absorbed into and substantially through the sheet. Another object is to provide such a sheet in which the interruptions or breaks project from both the front and rear of the sheet, rendering the broken areas readily destructible so that erasure and attempted smoothing out of such areas is precluded.

Another object is to provide means precluding alteration of the check or the like by the use of a carbon strip applied with its effective face against the rear of the check so that the inserted matter shows on the rear of the paper.

Another object is to provide a sheet of the kind described in which the broken areas to be filled in are likewise provided with a suitable chemical absorbed into such broken areas and maintaining them relatively moist so that destruction of the areas upon attempted alteration is unavoidable.

These and other objects are attained by the means described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank check formed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, greatly enlarged, through one of the broken areas of the check provided in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 3 is an edge view of a pair of dies that may be used in producing the check or paper of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of a check or the like in which the broken area forms or comprises selected wording or marking.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear plan View of a check or paper showing the manner in which the inserted matter is carried through the sheet and disclosed on the rear thereof.

Various means have heretofore been provided, particularly in connection with bank checks, for precluding alteration of the checks. Such alteration on the part of unscrupulous persons is done with such ingenuity and skill that even elaborate precautions heretofore developed have been overcome. The means most commonly used at the present time for insuring checks against alteration is the check-writing machine or checkwriter of which various forms, all involving intricate and elaborate construction, have been provided. These checkwriters must, of course, be purchased and used by the individuals and companies making out the checks and the items of original investment, repair and replacement are considerable. Moreover, the use of the checkwriter necessitates considerable care and is timeconsuming especially where a large number of checks are to be made out. Finally, it has been found that checks made by the use of checkwriters are alterable by skilled dishonest persons so that the use of such machines is no assurance against alteration and loss.

The present invention overcomes these various difiiculties by providing checks or other paper formed, prior to use of the checks, with blank areas adapted to be filled in by the user in the usual way and so formed or treated as to be incapable of alteration. The invention therefore eliminates the need for checkwriters or checkwriting machines and is believed to be an absolute precaution against alteration.

In greater detail and with reference to the drawing:

A check I0 of this invention is provided, in the various areas to be filled in, including the areas H, I2, 53, I4 and I5, for the index number, date, name and amount, respectively, with numerous adjacently disposed breaks l6 (Fig. 2) projecting from both the front and rear of the sheet. These interruptions or breaks may be formed, at the time of the printing of the sheet, by the use of a pair of male dies l I (Fig. 3) so arranged relative to one another that the points I8 of the respective dies I1, when brought together with the check paper between them, pass each other rather than meet point-wise, whereby the points I8 of both the dies pierce the paper in both directions so that the breaks I6 project from both the front and rear of the paper. The breaks are disposed in close adjacency and so interrupt the fabric of the paper as to render the broken areas readily destructible if the attempt I is made to rub or erase the said areas.

Strengthening lines may be provided in the broken areas so made by omitting the points I8 along certain longitudinal and transverse lines whereby corresponding uncut lines I9 are formed in the broken areas of the check.

It should be mentioned at this point that the broken areas formed as described are adapted to be filled in by the use of a typewriter with the selected data. It is contemplated that the user of the check makes the desired insertions by the use of a typewriter provided with a well-inked ribbon or with other suitable means utilizing a fluid or absorbable writing medium such as ink. The broken areas, formed as described, are highly absorbent and, by capillarity, carry the ink into and substantially through the check so that, as illustrated in Fig. 7, the inserted matter is visible on the rear thereof, as at 20. The filled-in data is thus incorporated into the sheet, further insuring against alteration of the latter.

Fig. 4 illustrates how the dies may be so formed, with the cutting points omitted, in accordance with a selected design to form on the check a desired word, figure or the like, as indicated at 22. It will be noted that the lines of such configuration may be substituted for the strengthening lines [9 (Fig. 1), which linestherefore preclude undue weakening of the fill-in areas due to the interruptions or breaks Hi. In the use of these checks, the payees name, for instance, is typed directly over the trade-mark or name formed as described.

The formation of the checks provided withinterrupted areas, as described, may be accomplished in a simple and direct manner simultaneously with the printing of the checks and obviously requires no additional time in the manufacture of the check. The ultimate user of the check simply types in or otherwise suitably inserts the desired data and gains all the advantages already described without special equipment, care and additional time.

Modifications suggest themselves upon consideration of the means herein disclosed but these are believed to be comprised within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A blank check or other paper, comprising a paper sheet adapted to be filled in by the user with selected data in a predetermined portion, said portion being provided, prior to use of the sheet, with a substantially continuous area formed with numerous, adjacently-disposed breaks rendering said area readily destructible and absorbent, and strengthening lines in said area to preclude undue weakening thereof, said lines being formed by omission of said breaks in selected parts of said area.

2. A blank check or other paper, comprising a paper sheet adapted to be filled in by the user with selected data in a predetermined portion, said portion being provided, prior to use of the sheet, with a substantially continuous area formed with numerous, adjacently-disposed breaks rendering said area readily destructible and absorbent, and strengthening lines in said area to preclude undue weakening thereof, said lines being formed by omission of said breaks in selected parts of the said area, and said omissions being effected according to a selected design to form a desired word, figure or the like.

3. A blank paper check or the like formed with a continuous area provided with numerous adjacently-disposed breaks or ruptures projecting from both the front and rear of the check, upon which ruptured area desired words or figures are to be imprinted in subsequently filling out the check for use, whereby the check is rendered destructible upon attempted alteration of the filledin data, and said ruptured area absorbs the imprinted matter into and substantially through the check for further precluding alteration of the latter.

WILLIAM E. NIECE. 

